Best Electrical Schematic Software?

[Swervomotor]

Any recommendations on a good electrical schematic software? Schematics are my weak point and I'm doing more and more machine builds requiring complex schematics so it is time to learn a full featured schematic software.  Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

 

-Swervomotor

[kratmel]

I recommend  to do table  of component that you use in your installation. And sort it by manufacturers.

Then visit site where this component (free or not) element database present, You can see what software is suported by manufacturers.

Then try to check  licences price for this software and futures provided.

[Ausman]

Swervo, there are so many different styles of schematics you'll have to decide in the first place which way you want to go.   To me it is personal preference.  There are different names world wide for different style types.  I actually hate modern style "line diagrams", "riser style" as I find them counter-intuitive and hard to understand at a glance, as you need to constantly reference descriptions.  I much prefer older style where the entire layout and connections are visualised.  Sometimes these are called pictorial, maintenance, schematic.

This link https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1025/ML102530301.pdf is a good example I quickly found of most standard methods, with actual drawings starting about 1/3 through.

cheers, Aus

[John_R]

Aus,

My analogy is that a schematic is like road map and shows you where you are going...
so far as the "line diagram" (DIN prints as I call them), compared to a "regular" electrical print;

When you look at a complete map of the country (regular print), you can see how the highways interconnect from state to state.
When Interstate 70 (in the US) leaves the left side of Illinois, you can clearly see that it then enters the right side of Missouri.

But if you grab a Road Atlas, where each state is on it's own page (like the DIN prints)...

If you are looking at Illinois and follow Interstate 70 where it exits to the left, it does not go to the next page to the left,
instead it references Missouri, and you have to flip through several pages to get there, with other pages of roads (connection paths) scattered in between....

 

🤔

Now so far as the OP's question about Schematic Software, for many years I have been using a simple 2D CAD program.
I have built a custom menu containing the most common symbols, that I can click & drop into my drawing.
I have many symbols in my library that I have drawn from scratch, and others that I have grabbed off of manufacturers
websites (I can import DXF & DWG's into my CAD program, doctor them to my needs and save as a symbol).

No, it does not create Parts Lists or Net Lists, but it does allow me to create legible drawings for our technicians to use.

JohnR